To celebrate Sri Lanka’s 70th year of Independence, Sri Lanka Cricket Board hosts a tri-nation T20I series involving India and Bangladesh. The tournament comprising seven games and it kick starts with the curtain raiser between Sri Lanka against India on March 6. The Nidahas Trophy played in 1998 to celebrate the country’s golden jubilee of independence was between India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Now, the same Nidahas Trophy returns to frame to celebrate country’s 70th independence.

Both visiting teams India and Bangladesh have been announced their respective squads for the entertaining shorter format series. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been named 20 players preliminary squad on Tuesday but, they yet to announce final 15-member squad.

Team India just completed their successful limited overs victories in South Africa and now they are set to participate in their last T20I tournament before this year IPL season. After played so many matches in a row, skipper Virat Kohli just earned a well deserved rest, therefore he will not take a part on this tour. On his absence, the opening batsman Rohit Sharma will take care of captaincy and he led the team in the last and final T20I against South Africa last Saturday.

BCCI also rested pace duo Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah along with all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was injured during the last ODI couple of weeks ago, with that he is not included for this tour. Former captain and well experienced wicket-keeper MS Dhoni requested for a rest, so he also not take any part in the Nidahas trophy.

Rohit’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan will do a role of vice-captain on this tour. KL Rahul and Manish Pandey retained their places in the T20I squad. Suresh Raina who made his return to national team in recent T20I series against South Africa, retains his spot in the squad after shown impressive performances in those 3 matches. The young all-rounder Washington Sundar returns to the squad along with hard-hitting Deepak Hooda. Captain of Tamil Nadu side, all-rounder Vijay Shankar set to make to his international debut on this tour. Wicket Keeper Dinesh Karthik retains his place while the young and dynamic Rishabh Pant also joins him as the other wicket-keeper batsman. Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel are a specialist spinners picked for this tour.

Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has named as a captain for this tri-series. Shakib was sidelined with finger injury and he did not play against Sri Lanka in both tests and T20I series earlier in the month. Still, he is not recovered from that finger injury but BCB made him as a captain with a hope that he could be available at some point of the tour. It wasn’t a pleasant start for Bangladesh in 2018, first they lost the ODI tri-series to Sri Lanka followed by test and T20I series losses to the same side. If Shakib is not recovered at time, Mahmudullah will probably lead the team on Shakib’s absence.

With some good performances in a recent T20I series, Soumya Sarkar retains his place in the squad while many eyebrows were raised when the selectors gives Imrul Kayes another chance. The experienced opener Tamim Iqbal was recovered and gained full fitness recently, therefore he has been added to the squad. Much impressive performances in the BPL season gives a second chance for Ariful Haque. The explosive and calculative batsman in middle-order had an average series against Sri Lanka earlier this month, but he could play a key role in this new series.

Despite poor form in recent times, Sabbir Rahman retained his place in shorter format squad. The experienced wicket keeper Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah has lot to offer for the team’s success when they are facing strong opponents like India and Sri Lanka. Mehidy Hasan and Nazmul Islam are specialist spinners who picked for the tour. Bangladesh has added 5 pace bowlers in their squad. They are Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider Rony and Abu Jayed.

Cricket is what everyone loves. If you’re ready to play fantasy cricket but don’t know how to analyze players, consider his Articles as the foundation of your fantasy teams. Anand is a cricket blogger and fantasy cricket lover.

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